It’s about time

…that someone was teaching a course about time. After all time has managed to become a coveted market good. Friends and families make each other “gifts of time“ rather than material or money gifts, numerous products promise to help consumers find „more time for themselves“, and events promise “the time of one’s life”. Numerous businesses essentially promise to sell time, the good “time” is at the height of time. Marketers and managers of the future are hence well advised to “take or make some time” (in the form of attending a course) to better understand how seeing goods and businesses through the lens of time might help them in developing and selling products that cater to consumers’ time needs.

In this course we look at time from various angles. We look at it as a malleable business opportunity but also take a critical look at the exploitation of time as a market good. We start by asking what time actually is, how it can be experienced, what makes it special from a psychological perspective and what other important constructs--such as speed, convenience and even hopes for eternal live--it relates to. In an interactive set-up and supported by student projects, we will query into the possibilities of incorporating time in market offers and marketing strategy in an increasingly digitalized society. The aim is for students to develop an enlightened approach to time as a personal resource and as a malleable competitive edge.